30 amazing data viz galleries everyone should foll…

Not so long ago, we brought to you a set of Pinterest users to follow, as an example of the kind of curating efforts many people are making in social network websites such as that one. But is that the only option, to quickly look out for thew best examples of infographics? Of course not. There are plenty of websites to bookmark, if what you’re looking is visual inspiration

Before we go any further, a couple of notes: we’re not listing graphics desk or publishers portfolios/online galleries, or featuring any individual or collective portfolio, as it would make this post immense – much more than what already is. For the same reason, we’re leaving out those social networks such as Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, NewsPageDesigner, LinkedIn, Flickr, and all the others where, either through personal or institutional profiles, or through public and private groups, infographics and data visualizations are collected/shared.

That leaves us with a handful of very specific type of online galleries, some of which are very well known in the data viz community, and even outside of it, due, specially, to the time they’ve been around. Others, less familiar, will surprise you for the level of dedication and professionalism invested not only on building them, but also keeping them updated. And, of course, you have galleries from competitions such as the Information is Beautiful Awards – the shortlist for the 2014 edition was just announced, by the way -, and the ones from the most popular data visualization tools.

Overall, we hope you’ll find some of these galleries useful, and even inspiring, knowing that this is just a very small first step into data visualization literacy.

Now, let’s start with the “classics” (click though the images to go to the website):

Visual Complexity

(image: Visual Complexity)

Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards

(image: Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards)

Visualizing.org

(image: Visualizing.org)

The New York Times and The Guardian’s data visualization

(image: Graphics Collection | Marije Rooze)

Newsvis.org

(image: Newsvis.org)

Visual.ly Staff Picks

(image: Visual.ly )

Now, some perhaps a bit less known:

The Life, the Universe and Everything

(image: Santiago Ortiz)

Gallery of Data Visualization The Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics

(image: Michael Friendly)

Mathematical Art Galleries

(image: Michael Friendly)

Visualgo

VisuAlgo, a project by the National University of Singapore School of Computing

See, also

(image: See, also | Hatnote)

Circular World

(image: Nikola Sander and Ramon Bauer)

List of Physical Visualizations

(image: Pierre Dragicevic and Yvonne Jansen)

List of Active Physical Visualizations

(image: Pierre Dragicevic and Yvonne Jansen)

And then, you have the ones built around a specific tool, or programming language, or even those dedicated to help users interact with more experienced practitioners.

The Big List of D3.js Examples

(image: Christophe Viau)

Mike Bostock’s D3.js gallery

(image: Mike Bostock)

Esri Map Gallery

(image: Esri Map Gallery)

Google Map Gallery

(image: Google Map Gallery)

CartoDB Map Gallery

(image: CartoDB)

Tableau Public’s gallery

(image: Tableau Public’s gallery)

Visualising Data Resources Page

(image: Visualising Data Resources Page)

HelpMeViz

(image: HelpMeViz)

The Data Visualisation Catalogue

(image: The Data Visualisation Catalogue)

MobileVis

(image: MobileVis)

As for historical data visualizations, this is probably the most organized of all sorts, thanks to libraries, collectors and antiques shops who thoroughly unveil and catalog some of the most exquisite early pieces of cartography and diagrammatic sketch works – many of which are featured in our weekly vintage infodesign round ups.

Here are some of those online galleries that we highly recommend:

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

(image: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection)

World Digital Library

(image: World Digital Library)

The Big Map Blog

(image: The Big Map Blog)

Photogrammar

(image: Yale University)

NYPL Map Warper

(image: New York City Public Library)

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps gallery

(image: Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps)

As a first selection of hopefully many to come, we think this is more than enough. Again, please remember that, when it comes to infographics and data visualizations, there are so many sources and places to visit on a regular basis, that this is far from being a comprehensive list. Alberto Cairo and Andy Kirk, among others, have excellent resource pages in their websites which are definitively worth bookmarking.

And if you have another good addition to this list, let us know on Twitter or Facebook.

Written by Tiago Veloso

Tiago Veloso is the founder and editor of Visualoop and Visualoop Brasil . He is Portuguese, currently based in Bonito, Brazil.